Hoka 10k 2018

Hoka 10k 2018

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Sitting, Music, Friends, and Cuddles

My boy is 99% there with his sitting. I'm still cautious with him sitting on harder surfaces because he occasionally gets lazy/tired and falls over. I'm so insanely proud of him! Today, for the first time, we noticed him on all fours!!! We've been waiting for this one! I tried to get  it on camera buuuut...NO.  


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J is getting major exposure to music. We've decided he'll probably play the piano or be a drummer...or both! He'll have the perfect teachers! Last weekend, he went to his first James Davis gig. Mr. Boo played with his dad and their friend (also named Jim!) at a bar/restaurant. James had a great time and even got some drumming lessons.


He mostly likes to eat the sticks but that's a good start!


We also went to the Columbus Jazz and Rib Fest that weekend and James got to hear some great music and watch us eat some great food! The boy doesn't know what he's missing.


(My favorite picture this week)

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We had some good friend time this week! Our friends, The Hatti, invited us over for dinner. We grilled burgers and veggies, drank margaritas (my fav!), and topped it all off with cake! J got to play with his friend Charlotte  (10 days younger than James) and take notes on her yoga skills.

Later that week, we met our life group at Schiller Park in German Village for bible study. It was an amazing evening outside. We enjoyed a yummy Mexican style salad for dinner and sipped on Blue Moon. 


Finally, this weekend was The 5th Annual Davis Hillbilly Party! It's funny to see how the party has evolved over the years. It used to be a bunch of drinking 20-somethings partying the night away and now it's this:



LOL. Not that I'm complaining! It just cracks me up! Different and still fun. You can't go wrong with food, drinks, and friends!

Who says your life ends when you have kids?

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My boy is becoming a cuddler. Needless to say, I'm LOVIN' it!!! After I feed him or when I pick him up and carry him, he just gives me these sweet little hugs that put the biggest smile on my face. :) :) :)



Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Half Marathon Training Week 1: This Girl Needs a Goal

As some of you may know, I've committed to TWO half marathons in October and they're two weeks apart. This may seem like nothing to some runners but, for me, it's a first. I've done a couple of fulls, a few halves, and a ton of other races but never two big ones this close together. Needless to say, I'm nervous and excited all at the same time. 

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I'm the type of runner that needs a running goal in order to be motivated to run. If I don't have a race to look forward to, I will easily skip running workouts by saying there's no reason I HAVE to do it. 

I'm also the type of runner that does a lot of research to find a program that fits my life at that time. This time around, I have a running partner. This is the first time since the one year I ran in college that I've even attempted to run with someone (I'm way to self conscious about slowing others down). Fortunately, I have the perfect partner and we both have to run with our babies.  We do our own thing during the week and do our long runs together on Saturdays. My long runs are not the same without her!

So...week 1 of training (from competitor.com)...I have to switch the days up based on my personal schedule but I try to get all of the workouts in at some point. All workouts this week were done with James in stroller: 

  • Sunday, 7/13: 4mi + 4x20" strides (Avg pace 9:38, fastest mile 9:13, slowest 10:01)
  • Monday, 7/14: Easy 3 miler (no GPS or watch this date...it was just one of those days)
  • Tuesday, 7/15: 6 mi tempo run (2 mi WU, 3 mi @ 1/2 marathon pace, 1 mi CD; 1/2 pace average 8:48)
  • Wednesday, 7/16: Cross Training, P90X Yoga
  • Thursday, 7/17: 4mi + 4x20" strides (Avg pace 9:18, fastest mile 9:07, slowest 9:42)
  • Friday, 7/18: REST DAY!!!
  • Saturday, 7/19: 8 miles; I'm pretty sure I ran uphill for 7 miles and, finally, downhill the last mile! Avg pace 9:38, fastest mile 9:03 (mile 8), slowest 10:25 (mile 1)
Overall, it was a great first week of training. There were some cool days and some HOT and HUMID days but this body must adjust!!

Sunday, July 20, 2014

James Turns 7 Months



Dear James,

You are such a big boy! This month's "milestone" has been all about sitting. Since your doctor appointment, we started practicing A LOT! By the time you hit 7 months, you could sit 2-3 minutes at a time without falling over! It was neat to see the strength that you gained. You are becoming a sittin' fool!



We are STILL trying to get you to eat food. You're still not a fan but seem to like bananas and applesauce more than anything else we try. But, mostly, you purse your lips and do anything you can to keep me from putting food in your mouth. It's become pure entertainment.

You had a few firsts this month including your first festival, first trip to Lake Erie, and first time to see Grandpa Davis perform his music.

I've been convinced the last two weeks that you are teething. I'm just waiting for a tooth to pop through. If you do have one, I probably can't see it anyway because you won't let me look inside your mouth!

You have been such a trooper with mommy and her running. I think you might like it! I did one run without you this month and it was so weird! Honestly, I missed you like crazy!!! I just hope that you can tolerate it when I get into the 10+ mile range.



Besides you moving all over the place in a matter of seconds, the coolest thing about this month has been the fact that your personality traits are starting to show. So far, daddy and I think you are stubborn. You make this apparent with the whole "I'm not going to open my mouth" phase. You are also becoming very vocal. It's fun to hear new little noises coming from your mouth. Finally, you are such a chill baby. You have this attitude and look like everything is all good. You mostly go with the flow. You definitely didn't get that from your momma!



I love you, son, and have so much fun hanging out with you! I only wish I didn't have to work so I could spend even more time with you!

Love,
Mommy

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Independence Day Weekend, Teething, Date Time and James Still Won't Eat (LOL)...


I definitely should have posted last week because I have a lot to say about the last two weeks!

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Independence Day weekend was 99% awesome! I had the most wonderful 4 day weekend and spent all kinds of time with my boy (the other 1% was James being a little nuts on Monday because of teething...he cried most of the day and didn't sleep well the night before). We kicked off our weekend with mommy/baby happy hour at BJ's Brewhouse with Jackie and Kirstin and had Whit's that evening with The Hatti! Good thing we ran the next day! 

July 4th was awesome! Mr. Boo had a volleyball tournament so we went to Marysville to hang with his family. We ate yummy parfaits on the Davis patio...such a beautiful morning...then went to the popular Union County Fairgrounds to see Grandpa Davis play some music for the festival. James loved hanging out with Grandma Joan...he even fell asleep in her arms :) After the gig, we hung out with Aunt Amy and the cousins for a few. The only thing that would have made the day better is having Jimmy with us!

The fun continued on Saturday. After our long run with Peyton and Jackie, we all met some other friends at Bunny Park in Dublin. They have some cool fountains and waterfalls. J wasn't a fan at first but eventually warmed up to it. Later that evening (the weather being even more perfect than the day before), we went to Local Cantina at Creekside with Grandpa and Grandma Joan. They have the best margaritas and tacos! (SIDE NOTE: If you EVER want to go out for a margarita, I'm the girl to invite...just sayin')


Despite a rough end to our long weekend with James' teething, the day was made better by Grandma Deb coming over to hang out with us while Mr. Boo was at work. She even brought us...well, me...some Cane's!

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James is so stubborn when it comes to opening his mouth! I want to get a good look and feel for teeth but he just won't let me!! The little stinker. I thought I saw a white spot and so did his daddy and sitter. He has been gnawing on things all week and I can tell the little booger is in pain at times. He won't take the typical teething toys so I have given him some baby Tylenol if I think he's really in pain. Poor baby.

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Last night, we were given the opportunity to go on a baby-free date. We went to Marysville and dropped J off at Jim and Joan's and went to uptown (or is it downtown) Marysville and had some Mexican food and a margarita. (For those in M-ville, that Mexican place, Fiesta something, is not that great. If you haven't been there, I suggest just going somewhere else.) We then crossed the street to get some custard from Whit's! If you guys haven't noticed, margaritas and Whit's are obviously two of my favorite things :)

When we went to pick J up, we saw the cutest thing:

Grandma feeding him a bottle while Grandpa was playing the guitar and singing him a song.

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James still won't eat and I'm still not that concerned about it. It's more annoying than anything! LOL. I bought a couple of new gadgets at Target to try to coax him into eating. One is basically an oversizes pacifier that you fill with pureed food; 

the other, a mesh feeder in which you can put frozen treats, amongst other things. We tried frozen blueberries during one of our runs and that was a mess! Basically, I'm just trying to feed him something everyday without force. Eventually, when he's ready, he'll eat real food.

Oh yeah...he's starting to drink some water!

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I'll leave y'all with some smile pictures since it's SO HARD to get that boy's smile on camera!

At Jane's.

So cute!

Not a massive smile but he LOVES to splish splash in the bath tub!

Saucer fun.



Saturday, July 12, 2014

Hills, Hills, They're Good For Your Thighs...

...the more you run 'em, the more you wanna die :)

It's Friday, I'm celebrating the end of another work week, and trying to figure out what to do on this Friday evening. I had what I thought was a brilliant idea but it turned into my biggest (not longest) running adventure with James.

I thought it would be fun to run from our house to The Y, Jimmy could meet us there with the swimming clothes, and we'd have some fun family time in the pool. Sounds awesome, right?! Well, an easy 4-5 mile run turned into the hill workout of a lifetime!

We headed towards Stygler from our house towards the direction of some trails in Gahanna. I was trying to connect to Morse/Cherry Bottom intersection (the section of Stygler from our road to Morse has no sidewalks and I thought it would be too dangerous for James and me to run).

The trail entrance was about a mile from our house including one massive uphill. I wasn't sure what to expect once we hit the trail. I had to guess where to go, I didn't know what the mileage would be, and I had to deal with the creepiness of being alone with my baby in the woods. There were a few little hills and at least two huge ones on the trail path. I was hoping that would be it once I hit up Morse Road. I finally made it to my first destination....

When I made it to Morse and looked towards the direction of Hamilton, I remembered that this entire mile was one gradual incline! NOOOOO!!!! As if the other hills weren't enough while pushing a baby in a stroller! James and I pushed through it and made it to The Y...running just over 5 miles. Not the adventure I wanted the day before a long run!



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On a similar but different note, James and I start our 12 week half marathon training tomorrow!!! I'm really excited about the workouts on my program and hope that J can stick with me through those long runs.



Friday, July 4, 2014

James Turns 6 months

This is 3 weeks late, I know, BUT I wanted to include these pictures that Amy took of James the day of his half birthday. 


Dear James,

You are becoming such a big boy (6 MONTHS OLD!!!). I probably say this every month! Seeing you grow is such a cool thing. You've experienced a lot of neat things this month. You went on your first long trip in the car (long=5 1/2-6 hours for mommy and daddy). You got to meet your cousins Brooklyn, Drew, Quinten, and Brennan. They think you are the coolest...and they are right! Now that your personality is becoming more apparent, it's neat to see you interact with aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, etc. Speaking of cousins, Molly LOVES you! You, Molly, and Cooper are going to have a blast running around and driving us crazy! 



After having trouble getting you to sleep the last couple of months, you FINALLY started sleeping 8-9 hours at night. You have occasional hiccups but do well for the most part. 



You became very interested in mommy's food this month so I decided to start feeding you solids. Son, you are NOT a fan of pureed food so far. Mommy is still trying to make things happen. If you don't like it, we'll just wait until you're old enough for finger food!



Besides food, you've had some other first experiences this month. You tried swinging at the park, you played with grass, and you went into the pool. You didn't get overly excited about any of them but seemed really chill about it. You mostly people watched as you were doing these things (just like mommy and daddy...we love people watching)!



You are starting to move around more and mommy and daddy really have to keep an eye on you. You can roll across the floor in about 5 seconds! You are trying SO HARD to crawl but you really should consider slowing down this progression. Mommy's not ready for you to move that much. I think it will be a while before you crawl, though. You have to get a little better at sitting without us holding onto you. 



You are such a sweet, good boy and so much fun to play with...I can't wait to see what you have in store for mommy and daddy! We love you, Jamesy!



Love, 
Mommy

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Lake Erie, Fatigue, and James Won't Eat...


Jimmy and I took last Friday off so that we could enjoy a short 28 hours at Lake Erie. We stayed at the family cottage in Huron which is a short 30 second walk to a private beach! We go at least once each summer but this time was special because it was James' first beach experience as well as Izzie and Angel's! 



Prior to leaving, J and I went on a 7.4 mile run around our neighborhood followed by a delicious breakfast at Der Dutchman with daddy. This was James' FIRST time to sit in a high chair at a restaurant:


After settling in at Lake Erie, we enjoyed some walks, went out to eat, and went to Mr. Boo's favorite childhood ice cream place...Pied Piper!


James didn't sleep too well that night...new place, different bed. I slept with him in one of the beds which means I didn't really sleep well because I was paranoid about him falling off of the bed. Despite the sleeping issues, we enjoyed our day at the beach. Grandma Griffith put James feet in the water. I couldn't tell if he was a fan:


Our quick trip was a perfect family getaway and a great way to start the weekend!

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This hot and humid weather is really taking a toll on my body. I've been so tired during my runs! I, somehow, have managed to survive the heat while pushing J in the stroller but it hasn't been easy. I'm just straight up exhausted. Mr. Boo and I decided I needed to get some protein in my body right after I finish my run. I'm not a huge fan of protein powder drinks (although I love protein smoothies) so we came up with an idea. I have a recent obsession with chocolate and peanut butter (a.k.a. Reese's). Jimmy ordered me some chocolate peanut butter protein powder that I will mix with chocolate milk. Hopefully it's good and I can suck down 8 ounces worth after my workouts!

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We have been trying solids with James for 4-5 weeks now. We have tried sweet potatoes, carrots, avocados, and bananas. J's been the most receptive to bananas. I'm sure he's still trying to figure out how to eat but, honestly, I don't think he likes it! My plan is just to keep trying different fruits and veggies until I find something he seems to like. If that doesn't happen, I guess it's gonna be breast milk until he can eat finger foods!  


FOR ALL THOSE MOMMAS OUT THERE: DID YOUR BABIES DO WELL TRANSITIONING FROM MILK TO SOLIDS?